November 11, 2009

I've been checking my Site Meter quite a few times in the last day. I've been pleased and then a little ashamed of myself as I see the phenomenal power of one particular post title to attract search engine traffic. This post was originally titled "Things the Site Meter dragged in." I've tweaked it a little to make my point. I'm not traffic-greedy — not too much. Just trying to make my point.

While I was hanging out on Site Meter, a couple other things got my attention. It's my general policy not to respond to bloggers who attack me — otherwise it would be a traffic-building strategy to attack me — but I do make exceptions as the whim strikes me. So, let's look at what Roy Edroso — of Alicublog and the Village Voice is saying about me.

But TMZ — I don't read it much, but, again, I'll guess — does not itself parade as Christian. Prejean does, and so she will be held to the high standards of Christianity, while TMZ can say and do whatever it wants. ("When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. ")

TMZ is following Rule 4 of Saul Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals":

Scripture and Saul Alinsky? This explains so much: Althouse is The Anchoress!

Despite his inclusion of that St. Paul quote, Edroso cuts my quote of Alinsky's Rule 4, which happens to use Christianity as the example of the effectiveness of demanding that your enemies live up to their own rules. Alinsky wrote: "You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian Church can live up to Christianity." It's hardly some odd quirk of mine to combine scripture and Alinsky. Edroso, in his usual fashion, looks for ways to make me look flaky — along with the other bloggers he's made it his business to mock. (The link to The Anchoress hints at Edroso's approach. Check out his latest Village Voice column for a more comprehensive example of how he works.)

Back to Edroso:

This argument that hypocrisy doesn't exist for the Elect...

What argument? Where did I argue that Christians aren't responsible for hypocrisy? I simply don't.

.... is by now an old rightwing favorite....

So just pull it out of you frumpy bag of liberal complaints about right-wingers. I thought you were trying to fisk my post, Roy. But, no, I'm either this distinct writer that you love to make fun of or I'm indistinguishable in the blurry mass of rightish bloggers that you've looked at before and have grown weary of squinting at.

... and the quality of Althouse's reasoning hasn't changed much from the old days.

Well, you haven't come close to nailing anything I've said in this post, so why bother to be specific about anything I've said in the past? You can't even read the post currently in front of your face, yet you think everyone already knows what it is I've said in "the old days." Maybe Roy is tired and on autopilot. But maybe, as he worked his way through what I'd written, confident in his ability to spew snark, he saw that my post actually cohered and that it was pretty damned sharp and funny, and he consciously decided to blur his observations so he could still get his post up. The poor wilted man. The option of actually liking what I'd written is inconceivable within the little framework he's built for himself. What would happen to that Village Voice gig?

But the Jesus stuff was a shock. I went down into her comments...

He couldn't figure out anything to say about what I wrote — "the Jesus stuff" — and, desperate, he dove into the comments looking for something repulsive. What he came up was from Florida, a specific, familiar commenter here:

... a quick scan suggests that the old let's-pretend liberals (what were their names, again? Rainbow? Sunshine?) seem to have fled or outed themselves, and the remnant are leaving stuff like this:

What's difficult as hell to do is to live up to the standards that would be set up for Christians by the butt-buggering sodomites. The rapists of 13-year-old children.

"Jesus stuff"... "stuff like this"... Roy is not editing and dealing with sloppy word repetitions, and, worse, he's not bothering to figure anything out. It's just stuff. He found the most unsightly quote and then — without reason — counted on his readers to believe that it exemplifies what is generally in the comments at my blog. How utterly flabby and lame.

Now, as for the comment he cherry-picked, Edroso has no idea what it means and makes no attempt to figure it out. He has not, like the regular comment readers here, been exposed to the way Florida writes and the things he writes about. He doesn't know about Florida's longstanding Roman Polanski theme — which began here and which involves a fair amount of antagonism toward me. It's likely that Edroso thinks he's come across some rabid homophobia, but, in context, I know that "butt-buggering sodomites... rapists of 13-year-old children" refers to Polanski and the Hollywood-type liberals who've defended him. Florida's comment is not part of a mass of "stuff like this" in the comments. It's something particular, incisive, and satirical, and, if you are going to focus on it, you'd better take some time to figure out what it means. But Edroso is happy to see something that looked like shit and to splatter it onto his post and then, childishly, to demand that onlookers see how ugly things are over at Althouse.

Amazingly, Althouse is still removing comments...

Huh? Where did that come from? What comments does he think I've removed? He's trying to pin that one comment on me by asserting that I moderate the comments, so that anything that is left, I've approved of. That is either a lazy mistake or a nasty lie. My approach to the comments is well known: I have a strong free speech policy, and I leave vile things in. To imply that whatever is left has my stamp of approval is cheap and unethical.

... perhaps because they don't come up to the standards of this gem, or because they're actually messages from her employers trying to reach her because her phone has gone dead and her windows are boarded up.

He ends with a comic image, intended as a play on my name, the "old house" that he's used in his post title. Unfortunately, he hasn't built the foundation for what could have been a well-written joke. The material he thought he had just wasn't there.

Den Beste isn't still blogging, is he?

Roy makes a second attempt at humor, and, while I'm familiar with Den Beste, I have no idea why this is supposed to be funny. Althouse is The Anchoress... Althouse is Den Beste? Everything is melting in the mind of Roy Edroso.

I get that many gays want to turn Carrie Prejean into some sort of Anita Bryant, which is completely unfair, unjustified, and dishonest. As Donald Trump noted, Prejean's views on gay marriage are no different than Barack Obama's. I disagree with Prejean on that issue, but she is entitled to her opinion. I also think Perez Hilton is an ugly little troll and scab of a person. So get over it.

In a way, not much different than what Andrew Sullivan did to Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin was not some anti gay person. She was Christian but not some rabid creationist, yet Sully and his mob of liars sure painted her that way.

But all that said, Carrie Prejean made the decision to sue the California Ms. America Pagent. She cannot complain when they find some compromising video of her (that violate the pagent rules) and use it against her. Sorry. I would have been defending her if TMZ came out of nowhere with this and went after her, but that is not exactly what happened.

Meh... yet another bored blogger taking a swipe at Althouse in the high school social-lioness vein. "Oh look, a target I can abuse with my scathing wit." I swear, sometimes I see too many bloggers take their hobby as an excuse to exercise their inner juvenile. Most of us overcame this sort of behavior before or while in high school, but then there are the Edroso's among us who never let it go.

Assuming it ever becomes legal in California (hey wait California has a civil option that is marriage in every way but name) Perez Hilton could only exercise gay marriage because his exploitive site generate enough money that he could buy a husband. He could not win one otherwise.

The only thing I can say is that the dark underbelly of political-correctness is the instant bellyaching at what people say.

Sure, freedom of speech means being responsible for what you say (something a lot of 1st Amendment advocates tend to forget), but we're all so tense about it now...so ready for the "gotcha" moment when someone we dislike says something we don't agree with...it's obvious that the US won't rot from within. In the end, we'll all die of hypertension.

"Well I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. And, you know what, in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there. But that’s how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman."

This above is Ms. Prejean's horrible double plus ungood thoughtcrime for which the left demands she be ostracized from the company of decent people everywhere.

If you break it down, though, its hard to see what all the fuss is about. The first two lines seem to be very pro gay marriage. She's glad people have the right to choose, we can go either way. Past that, she shifts to a personal focus, and says, in HER LIFE, she thinks it should be between a man and a woman.

That's it. That's all it takes to get the gay mafia to try to destroy you these days. Seems kind of lame in hindsight really. Kind of like the TMZ fisking above, its much ado about nothing.

Yeah I know this is all about some tiny blogger swiping at Althouse, but I mean, come on. This whole Prejean story is not about anything but people's preconceived notions about gay marriage and the fact Prejean is hot. Gay advocates love showing Christians as hypocrites. But does Prejean having a position against gay marriage make her one? I do not think so. She is a young woman who made a foolish tape and did not consider that prior to filing a lawsuit. Plus stories about secret sex tapes are a sure generator of hits and comments.

Lester Kinsolving always referred to the Voice as The Lower Manhattan Belch and, having seen Voice writers on the tube every now and again, particularly with Ubermoron, I can understand Les' reasonong.

Ann, why would you even care about what somebody like that wrote? Somebody with something intelligent to say - Mickey Kaus, Victor Davis Hanson, Roger Simon - their opinions on my work would be welcome feedback.

I loved your "The poor wilted man" comment.Standing up strong and sturdy like steel when critcised falsely has become a great talent of La Althouse, the Alaskan Rogue and the California Christian. The liberal men seem to be wilting into metrosexual boys when facing a challenger these days. I also note that Florida's florid prose is now the weapon most useful when attacking Althouse as a crazy place. Hmmm?

Why is Florida's comment that sodomites will spend eternity burning in hell "unsightly" to Althouse? If you are a Christian, a genuine believing Christian as opposed to a cafeteria Christian, that's exactly where sodomites will spend eternity. So it is an honest, not an unsightly statement. Of course it is also gauche and declasse and an embarrassment to a withit bien pensant like Althouse. First things first.

I originally came here thinking you were a muling idiot Lefty Ann (I can no longer remember the original lede any longer) ...and found out I was wrong.

Rather, I found you're occasionally witty, generally civil, seldom petty, you have a decided panache, and you're always worth reading (even when I agree not one whit).

Your one minor fault is a tendency to pay entirely too much attention - and in a too-thoughtful fashion - to people of a political 'suasion (and often juvenile vanity) that admits to no alternative viewpoint. And you - oddly, for someone of such obvious acuity - expect such to write and reason honestly.

Which they simply aren't capable of. Case in point.

...I think your point about distributing her unfortunate tape being possible trafficking in child-porn, was a brilliant little insight.

St. Augustine prayed to be freed from the temptations of the flesh, but not just yet. As a corollary to St. Augustine, many Christians would prefer to have Carrie Prejean as their spiritual guide rather than Mother Theresa.

Florida the woman comments like a take no prisioners man with the best hostility that a conservative can muster against the liberal talking points...and then she suddenly blends in a violent insurrection comment that can easily be used to get one thrown out of the game for cause. Just as there are things best not said on Airline flights anymore,there are threats of violence that are best not said on an internet salon style Blog. He/she is a skilled writer that is well spoken and has very readable prose. That too is not the usual style seen in a authentic angry and not going to take it anymore conservative. We will see.

I think there are an awful lot of men who would love to watch their wives or girlfriends masturbate with abandon to orgasm on Saturday night and then watch them pray beatifically during church the next morning.

It's possible that the relationship between "Althouse" and "Den Beste" relates back to Dutch immigrants in the eighteenth century.

As the story was related to me back when we were reading Edna Ferber's So Big, the immigrants were not used to using last names so they invented whimsical ones to keep the authorities happy. That's why there are so many Deyoungs (and de Youngs and De Jongs), for instance, and Van Buskirks (which I think means "from the church in the woods"). "Den Beste" is very whimsical -- "the best." Althouse and its variants (like "Althoff") probably meant that your ancestor wanted the authorities to know that he came from an old and established family (or "house," as in the House of Windsor).

Strange that I can remember nuggets like this from high school but can't remember my doctor's phone number.

As a corollary to St. Augustine, many Christians would prefer to have Carrie Prejean as their spiritual guide rather than Mother Theresa.

Many, really?

Do some folks dislike Christians because they feel they believe in a fairy tale? If so, fine then just let marinate in our delusion.

Or is it that we're "hypocritical"? If so it seems you'd rather we just admit we struggle to resist temptation and not speak of a desire to live otherwise. Except that its not what we believe As Paul stated in Romans chapter 7

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

So it is an honest, not an unsightly statement.Having been told (by a used car dealer!) that I was going to hell for not going to church (the least of my sins), I believe it can be both honest and rude and off-putting.

Den Beste retired on his own volition. He didn't lose his relevancy, he walked away from it.

Now he blogs about anime because that's what he wants to do. Of course, that means a pretty small audience. He didn't like dealing with people who nitpicked or did their best to misunderstand him. His style is to put something out for other people to read, and to ignore any reactions he finds annoying. Even now he deletes comments or closes posts because of topic drift. Any political post he makes has comments turned off.

Unfortunately, that's not how the internet works, and he just wouldn't play the game. So, he had his shot at blogging greatness and decided he wasn't up to it, or it wasn't worth it.

Naturally, I don't see Althouse as being like this at all. Quite the opposite.

Anyway, The Belmont Club is a lot like what Den Beste used to write, only with comments. You can even see Cedarford in a more congenial environment.

Everybody wants to go to heaven. Nobody wants to die.Everybody wants to know the reason without even asking why.Everybody wants to be the one to laugh. Nobody wants to cry.Everybody wants to hear the truth but people keep on telling lies.Everybody wants to know the reason without even asking why.Everybody wants to go to heaven. Nobody wants to die.

Al Fields/Tom Delaney/Timmie Rogers for Tommy Dorsey (the B side of his 1950 record, Goofus) Later performed by Ellen McIlwaine in 1972 (rereleased in 1998). Performed without attribution by Rhiannon on "Flight"

I think there are an awful lot of men who would love to watch their wives or girlfriends masturbate with abandon to orgasm on Saturday night and then watch them pray beatifically during church the next morning.

Careful about using Jesus' lack of mention as a source for his approval. He didn't mention all kinds of things we would even still agree are wrong. Molestation, for instance isn't mentioned.

His audience was primarily conservative Jews, so he made specific mention of the sins that these folks might not be worried about. We start with the assumption that he assumed the conservative Jewish moral framework as found in Moses, and then go from there. He specifically opened the door wider in some areas so we are given leeway on such things (such as the sabbath).

Indeed, he said even lusting is a sin, so it's hard to argue he had a more open sexual ethic than others of his time, when every indication suggests it was quite more narrow.

At the same time, who Jesus judged was pretty much unpredictable even in the Gospels. So we can argue for a certain ethic as reflecting Scripture, but we're on shaky ground whenever we say this or that person will be certainly judged one way or another. There's a lot of stuff in Scripture (such as in Matthew 25) which seems to be quite important in the final analysis.

I've long thought that heaven will be filled with people I didn't expect, and will be lacking a lot of people who I did expect.

Like Aslan told the children, we're not told how anyone else's story ends.

Though, if I were to venture a guess, I'd say that there's just about no way we'll be seeing the folks from Westboro baptist in the happy side of eternity. Hitler won't be there either--he messed with the wrong sort.

Most other people... we're just not given the final word on that. And if we think we do, God might well remind us we don't.

I think there are an awful lot of men who would love to watch their wives or girlfriends masturbate with abandon to orgasm on Saturday night and then watch them pray beatifically during church the next morning.

For those of you who enjoyed his work, surely you must see others here and there on the internet who appear to be his ghost. I know I do. Whether any are Den Beste or not is probably irrelevant, but personally, I love that I still "see" him here, there and everywhere! Sometimes I even imagine that he is having some fun.

Fitting that Bruce Springsteen, one of their decendants, is called the Boss.

As for Althouse, I do like Altbier (old beer), which is what they call the remaining German ales (prior to the introduction of the lager yeasts and techniques in the mid 19th century, Germans mostly drank ale like their British cousins).

The surname Prejean has from the the very start led me to think of Sister Helen Prejean, a Roman Catholic nun, and her book Dead Man Walking and how that and the film turned me in favor of the death penalty for the first time in my life and so why is she in a bikini?

If the goal is to show how Edroso is not trustworthy, this post falls far short of the mark. Most people would stop reading after the first sentence and their eyes would glaze over long before the end.

I try to show how people are lying and misleading and the like or that they can't think things through. And, I try to get to the point and start with one or two topic sentences telling people what I'm going to tell them.

In this case, I'd comb Edroso's past entries for examples of him lying/misleading and then I'd attempt to show his readers how he misled them.

For a recent example of a blog fight, see this. For something more important, here's me pointing out that Obama lied; that's part of a series.

On the one hand, I don't want people in the Instapundit orbit to learn how to do things in a better way, but OTOH it's getting lonely being one of the only persons who knows how to do things the right way.

"Everybody wants to go to heaven. Nobody wants to die.Everybody wants to know the reason without even asking why.Everybody wants to be the one to laugh. Nobody wants to cry.Everybody wants to hear the truth but people keep on telling lies.Everybody wants to know the reason without even asking why.Everybody wants to go to heaven. Nobody wants to die.

Al Fields/Tom Delaney/Timmie Rogers for Tommy Dorsey (the B side of his 1950 record, Goofus) Later performed by Ellen McIlwaine in 1972 (rereleased in 1998). Performed without attribution by Rhiannon on "Flight"'

I like Albert King's version.

Ellen McIlwaine....that's a name from the past I'd forgotten about. I played with with her back in the day in Woodstock. She was a big girl with a great voice. Good guitar player too. She tried to hit on me but I couldn't go there.

And if you get so upset when you perceive you've been misunderstood, why not be more expansive and direct in your posts? You spend so much time here explaining, why not have been more precise in the first place. If you don't wanna, that's fine. I get it. But you can't be surprised when your meaning and your opinions are not entirely clear.

Well, I would echo those who say that comparison to Den Beste is hardly an insult.

It is, however, inapt, from my limited readings of his posts. Everything I read of his was--well, you wouldn't call it elliptical. He was trying to communicate specific ideas in a clear fashion—often in a sphere which doesn't care for that sort of thing—which is why he isn't doing it any more. :)

i know that it's hard to resist returning fire when attacked, but look at how the comment threads can devolve into a couple of people sniping at each other.. it's boring. honestly, i didn't 'get' your prejean post either, but so what? i find enough of interest here to make regular visits, maybe leave a thought or two of my own, and then just move along...seems to work out pretty well for me.i suggest sticking to the theory that there is no such thing as bad publicity. as unfair as the fisking may have been, you got a mention that probably sent some curious folks over to check out your site so, in the end, it's a 'win' for you. feel better now?.. wait! don't answer that!